Does this mean XRPL is already quantum-safe?

No. The current ledger still relies on Ed25519 and secp256k1, both of which are vulnerable to a sufficiently powerful quantum computer. The Project Eleven engagement is the start of the work, not the delivery.

Is XRP at risk of being drained tomorrow?

No. A cryptographically relevant quantum computer does not exist today. The concern is harvest-now-decrypt-later, where adversaries store public keys now and crack them years later when hardware catches up.

How does this compare to Bitcoin and Ethereum?

Bitcoin and Ethereum both have active research discussions on post-quantum signatures but no named vendor contracts or amendment proposals on the table. XRPL's amendment process also makes it structurally easier to ship a change without a contentious hard fork.

Ripple, XRPL Foundation Tap Project Eleven to Harden XRP Ledger Against Quantum Threat

Ripple and the XRP Ledger Foundation hired cryptography firm Project Eleven on Tuesday to begin work on quantum-resistant upgrades to the XRP Ledger, moving the project from research papers into a concrete engineering track. The partnership, first reported by U.Today, targets the ledger's elliptic-curve signature scheme, the part of XRPL most exposed to a future cryptographically relevant quantum computer. The announcement landed late in the U.S. session, with no immediate official statement from the SEC or any other regulator.

By Elena Stojanović· AI-assisted· Regulation correspondent

What happened

Ripple and the XRP Ledger Foundation said Tuesday they had brought in Project Eleven, a cryptography firm focused on post-quantum security, to start hardening the XRP Ledger against a future quantum computer capable of breaking elliptic-curve signatures. U. Today, which first reported the deal, characterized the engagement as a shift from theoretical study into applied engineering.

The XRPL today relies on Ed25519 and secp256k1 for account signatures, the same family of curves used by Bitcoin and Ethereum and the exact primitives Shor's algorithm targets. Neither Ripple nor the foundation disclosed the dollar value of the contract, the engineering lead at Project Eleven, or a target ledger version. Ripple chief technology officer David Schwartz has flagged quantum risk in public comments going back to 2019; this is the first time the foundation has named an outside cryptography vendor on the work.

Why it matters

Quantum risk to public-key cryptography is not a 2026 problem. It is a harvest-now-decrypt-later problem. Any address that has ever broadcast a transaction has its public key on-chain, which means a sufficiently powerful quantum machine, whenever it arrives, can derive the private key and drain the balance.

That risk profile is identical across XRPL, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. What is different here is process. XRPL has a formal amendment system where validators vote in changes; a post-quantum signature scheme can be slotted in as an amendment without a contentious hard fork in the Bitcoin sense.

Ripple, XRPL Foundation Tap Project Eleven to Harden XRP Ledger Against Quantum Threat

What happened

Why it matters

Market impact

What to watch

Disclaimer

Key takeaways

Frequently asked

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